Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Washington Monthly, fed up with the way U.S. News ranks colleges and universities, has devised their own methodology. Instead of measuring a school's prestige, the magazine looks at whether a school is improving the quality of life in America — through research, community service, helping low-income students graduate, etc.

Seems like kind of a bogus idea, but Haverford and Berkeley did OK. Haverford was No. 7 on the liberal arts college list (and Bryn Mawr was No. 3!). Berkeley was No. 3 on the university list.

On the U.S. News list this year, Haverford checked in at No. 8, tied with Middlebury (and unfairly ranked below such "schools" as Carleton, Bowdoin and Wellesley).

Friday, August 19, 2005

It looks like San Francisco is America's coldest summer city* -- this summer at least. With all the fog and frigid temperatures lately, we're beating out Anchorage, Alaska, in the cool department.

The Chronicle had an interesting story today on San Francisco's foggy climate. *Factoid Alert*: Did you know that the foggiest place in the U.S. is Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington state? (Point Reyes in Marin County was No. 2.) Also, apparently Mark Twain never said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." What?? This is like when I learned that Kurt Vonnegut never really said that we should always wear sunscreen.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Earlier this week, some hybrid owners were complaining that they would have to get FasTrak transponders in order to ride in carpool lanes. Since I'm continually amazed by people's refusal to get FasTrak (especially people crossing the Bay Bridge on weekends), I felt compelled to write in.

Anyway, my quote is sandwiched in with a string of comments in the second-to-last question of the column.

Here was my full statement (which I guess in retrospect was a little acerbic):

Who are these knuckle-dragging troglodytes who refuse to get FasTrak? Get with the 21st century, people! Nothing steams me more than getting stuck in Bay Bridge traffic, trying to maneuver over to the FasTrak lane (which is invariably empty), while all these non-FasTrak-using morons clog the toll plaza.

And you know what? I'll bet most of those people sitting in traffic thought to themselves, "I don't need FasTrak — I never take bridges."

If you live in the Bay Area (notice how "bay" is in the name; therefore, "bridges"), you need FasTrak. I don't care if you only cross a bridge once a year, get the damn transponder. It's not that hard. The $40 is just a deposit, so you'll get it back if you don't use it. Consider it an investment in not being an idiot.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

I enjoy Target commercials as much as the next guy, but I'm a bit disturbed that Sir Mix-A-Lot contributed his intellectual property to the ad slogan "Baby Got Backpack."

This is a dark day for the Seattle rap scene (incidentally, the last 15 years have also been dark days for the Seattle rap scene).

But I guess if Target and others are determined to go ahead with this strategy, I might suggest some other '90s hip-hop classics they could co-opt.

How about:Eazy-E...Boyz n the HoodiesSnoop...It Ain't No Fun If My Homies Can't Have None — Of Those Double-Stuff OreosAMG...Bitch Betta Have my Performance FleeceIce Cube...The Wrong Nighttable to Fuck WitSnoop...Murder Was The Attache Case That They Gave MeIce-T...KKKmart Bitch

I was reading a story on promising TV shows that were cancelled before their time and learned some good news: "Greg the Bunny," which Kelly and I enjoyed during its short stint on Fox in 2002, is coming back. Apparently new episodes will be airing on the Independent Film Channel.

Monday, August 01, 2005

I saw "Hustle & Flow" over the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it (though the shoot-out scene at the end seemed to break tone a bit). One part that especially thrilled me was the appearance of the Casio SK-5 keyboard -- one of my prized possessions from childhood.

DJay, the protagonist pimp character in the film, buys the keyboard off a homeless person, and it helps rekindle his interest in music. Sadly, he did not use the feature that plays Eine Kleine Nachtmusik via barking dogs. He also didn't program several keys to say, "Hey Butt*%@$," which seemed to be popular in my day.